Our first stop in Costa Rica, this bay is the site of an extensive natural
reserve and marine park, almost totally enclosed by land. You can
just see the entrance between those two islands.

Luc is watching for fishing nets
and long lines at the entrance to Bahia Santa Elena. We won't
embarrass him by telling a story about how much food we have to carry
to feed a teenaged male person of this size.

We see what we think are
Pantropical Spotted dolphins or Spinner dolphins most days when we are
traveling. We can't always get these lovely photos of them. These
were taken just on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, where
the water is exceptionally clear.

Usually they visit us several
times a day, so we watch and listen for their distinctive hiss-splash,
and run up to the bow to hang over and laugh with them as they
ride the bow waves. Sometimes they stay only a few minutes; other
times they return to the bow wave again and again, for as long as 45
minutes or an hour.

Santa Elena is astonishingly
lovely, protected on all sides by these green, rolling hills.

This is just at the end of
the wet season, so the hills are green and lush

Because Santa Elena is
surrounded by hills, so these rainstorms hang over the hills for a long
time before they actually rain on us.

Our friends Linda
Charlesworth and Vic Smith on Sera joined us in Santa Elena, and we were
the only boats here for days.

Vic is perusing the manual
for the Autopilot, which has been acting strangely since...the
lightening strike?

Betsey got swimmer's ear in
Puesta del Sol, and was treating it based on Advanced First Aid
Afloat. She looks pretty healthy here, but the ear infection
turned into a 104 degree fever for almost a week, several attempts at
antibiotics, an allergic reaction, an emergency sail to Playa Coco to
see a doctor, and more days of high fever until the new antibiotic took
effect. Everyone was very scared.

Sailing the Costa Rican coast
is pretty mellow, at least in October, at the end of the rainy season,
before the start of Papagayo season. Papagayos are strong, sudden,
and unpredictable winds that blow from December to March along the Gulf
of Papagayo. We are sailing with a full main and job, and you can
see the self-steering Hydrovane steering the boat, while Lucas sits back
and watches for boat traffic.

Bahia Portrero Grande

Bahia Ballena

We finally started fishing in
Costa Rica. Before this, there was so much going on that we didn't
know how to manage the catching and killing of fish. But our
friends encouraged us, and some of them browbeat us, so we finally
worked out a process. Now we fish most days we are at sea.
We caught this yellowfin off Bahia Drake, and ate it a hour later.

Isla Cedros

These happy people are playing in John's
panga off Isla Cedros. From left to right, George, John, Sue,
Linda, Bets, Vic (Luc is taking the photo). We met John and Susan
quite by accident on the Paquera ferry, and became good friends.

John and Susan live in
Michigan for much of the year. They come to their home in Isla
Cedros in November, and stay until March.

We stayed a few weeks in our
anchorage at Isla Jesusita, played with John and Susan most days,

went to see the monkeys at
Isla Tortuga,

took a bus to Montezuma

Quepos

One of the most beautiful spots on the
Costa Rican coast. We anchored here several times, and we had a hard
time leaving. There's a nice beach town, and a secluded anchorage
south of the wharf. Beautiful.

This is the old headquarters
of United Fruit Company, Costa Rica, now owned by Palm Tico, Inc.
Most of Quepos is an old company town.

Manuel Antonio Park

Just south around the point
from Quepos is the amazing Manuel Antonio Park, with miles of trails
through the rain forest to lovely pocket beaches like this.

This is the best restaurant
in Manuel Antonio, a street vendor who cooks chicken and ribs with
casado (rice, beans, plantains, maybe some yucca or mashed potatos).
It looks pretty rough, but she's always full, and that's the key.

It's not for the squeamish,
though. This is the dishwashing facility. The blue buckets
on the ground hold water, which is scooped onto the sink with the blue
bin. Dishes are soaped, rinsed, and returned to the serving area.

Bahia Drake

South from Manuel Antonio is the lovely
and serene anchorage of Bahia Drake (Drah-kay), named for Sir Francis
Drake, who visited here.

The sunsets were
breathtaking. Drake turned out to be one of our favorite anchorages in
Costa Rica.